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JEFFERSON COUNTY 
PRIOR TO 1797 

By 
ROBERT LANSING 



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Jefferson County 
Prior to 1797 



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JEFFERSON COUNTY 
PRIOR TO 1797 

An Address delivered at the Jefferson County 
Centennial in June, 1905 

By 

ROBERT LANSING 



(Reprint from the published proceedings issued by the 

Jefferson County Centennial Committee, 

Watertown, N. Y.) 



Tlie strip of land, which lies between the eastern waters of the 
Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, has been for nineteen 
centuries sacred to Christendpitl as the home of the Chosen Peo- 
])le and the birthplace of the Christ. Yet had it never been distin- 
|0"nished by tliese events of such moment to the world, it would 
still have aroused historically a profotmd interest. Across its 
rui>ged uplands and through its fertile valleys marched the mas- 
ter-empires of the earth. The armies of Assyria and Babylon, of 
Egypt and Persia, of Greece and Rome, of the Saracen, the Cru- 
sader and the Corsican passed along its highways and fought 
their Ijattles at tlie foot of its mountains. It was the ever-de- 
batable ground of the Orient, and the nation which controlled 
its dee]j-worn caravan routes between the Euphrates and the 
Nile was the ruler of the world. 

l"'rom an historical point of view the land of Palestine finds a 
counterpart on the continent of North America where there is an 
area over which have fought the warriors of contending nations 
u])on wliose success nv defeat has depended the sovereignty of the 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 37 

western world. While Palestine hemmed in between the sea and 
the deserts offered but one passage for the armed hosts of the past, 
tills new land of contest, lying south of the River St. Lawrence pre- 
sented two routes by which the people holding the north or south 
could invade the territory of the other; the one, by Lake Champlain, 
Lake George and the tributaries of the Hudson ; the other, by the 
upper St. Lawrence and the eastern waters of Ontario. Between 
these two great water-ways lay, like an island, the desolate and brok- 
en highlands of the Couch-sach-ra-ge, "the dismal wilderness.'^ 
whose mountain-ridges and tumbling streams offered almost insur- 
mountable difficultii's to the movement of large bodies of men, and 
even prevented smaller bands from attempting its fastnesses. 

Thus the area, which is today called "The Adirondack Wilder- 
ness", divided this land of conflict into two distinct regions; and we 
are to devote our attention to the western of these, where Ontar- 
io's waters, flowing between the islands, which lie like stepping stones 
from its northern to its eastern shore, are gathered into the Great 
River of Canada. Across the eastern end of the lake, among the 
islands of the St. Lawrence, and through the surrounding forests 
have passed Algonkin and Iroquois warriors; Hurons and Abena 
ids; the French grenadier and the Scotch Highlander; Hessian chas- 
seurs, American rangers, and the marauders of Johnson and Brant; 
the raw militiaman of the young republic and the veteran guards- 
man of Britain. 

It was a land of scalping parties, of ambuscades and of sleepless 
vi;j:ils, a neutral ground for parley where "bearers of belts" met and 
kindled their council-fire, a place where a lonely scout silently pad- 
dled his caroe beneath the over hanging boughs. How many tales 
of w ar and death and savage life the waves of Ontario and the moss- 
cl orhed rocks of the St. Lawrence could tell — tales, which have nev- 
er found their way into history but were forgotten long before th? 
axe and the plow had won a home for the white man in these for- 
ests. 

CJiorography 

The region, now 'occupied by Jefferson County, is separated by 
Black River into two natural divisions. That to the south rising In 
ridges from the lake and the river valley forms the watershed be- 
tween the Mohawk and Ontario. It has been termed "The Less- 
er Wilderness" in contradistinction to the "Great Wilderness" of 
the Adirondack region. The section to the north of Black River 
is .'.n undulating plain with innumberable small lakes and marshy 



38 • JEFFERSON COLWrv CENTENNIAL. 

tracK, which in former days abounded with beaver and otter. It was, 
even to a comparatively recent period, a favorite hunting ground for 
the Iroquois, although before it was visited by white men the beaver 
had been almost exterminated. 

Prehistoric Remains^ 

Along the lower terraces of the uplands, through the Black River 
valley, and at several places north of the river, particularly in the 
\icinity of Perch Lake, have been found the evidences of prehistoric 
occupation. They consist of embankments, more or less extensive 
in size and regular in form, which appear to have been in some cas- 
es defensive works and in others the foundations of huts such as 
were commonly constructed by the American aborigines. Within 
and about these enclosures have been dug up at different times 
large numbers of flint flakes, stone implements, pieces of pottery, 
charred grain, and in a few instances human bones. 

Time will not permit to describe in detail these remains or to dis- 
( uss their origin, which have been for over a century fertile subiccts 
of study and speculation. The pioneer observer, who recorded his 
mvestigations, was the Rev. John Taylor, a New England mission- 
ary, who in 1802 journeyed through the "Black River Country" 
from Ellisburgh to Champion.- His journal has a peculiar interest 
being illustrated with diagrams of the earthworks which he visited in 
the territory now occupied by the towns of Ellisburgh, Adams, Rod- 
man and Watertown. 

As Mr. 1 aylor had the opportunity to make his examinations be- 
fore the forests had been felled and the grovmd leveled by cultivation 
his record is of exceptional value, but the same cannot be said of his 
comments upon the origin of the mounds and of his speculations as to 
their builders, in which the Lost Tribes of Israel are not forgotten. 

American archeologists of miore recent years deny the theories of 
their predecessors regarding the Mound Builders of the Ohio and 
Ixlississippi valleys. The belief in a prehistoric race superior to the 
Indians whom the white men found in the American forests has fall- 
en before a more scientific examination of the evidence. Instead ot 
a mysterious people related in culture, if not in/ blood, to the Aztecs 
and Zunis, the constructors of the famous mounds are now said to 
have been a nation of red men known as the AUeghans, who came 
from the northeast to the headwaters of the Ohio, presumably forced 
to emigrate by more warlike tribes. Further investigation has iden- 
tified this people, whose name is perpetuated in the great range of 
the Alleghanies, with the Cherokee Nation resident during historic 



.lEFFERSOX rorSTY CILXTESMJ L. '.i9 

times in Tennessee ; and etymologists have shown that the Cherok- 
ee language has a close afiinity to the Iroquois-Huron languages.^ 

It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that a civilization with simi- 
lar characteristics, though not necessarily of equal development, 
would be found in these related nations. If the Alleghans or the 
Cherokees were the builders of the extensive earthworks of the Ohio 
\alle", the presumption is that their kindred, the Iroquois or Hur- 
ons, constructed the mounds in the vicinity of the eastern end of On- 
tario, provided that either of these nations occupied this region in 
foriTier times. 

Such a conclusion, it is true, robs the student of an attractive field 
for speculation. The remote past becomes comparitively modern. 
The vanished race of Mound Builders which once lived in our school 
histories, gives place to the rude savages who ranged these forest, when 
Europeans first set foot on this continent. Today this seems the most 
probable solution of the origin of the remains in this section, and, 
since absolute proof appears to be unattainable, probability is as near 
as we can ccme to the truth. 

The Iroquois. 

The aborigines who claimed sovereignity over this region prior 
and subsequent to the historic period were the Iroquois^ a warlike 
P'.'ople, whose villages extended from the Hudson River along the 
Mohawk Vartey and the lakes of central New York to the neighbor- 
hood of Niagara. Though composed of five independent nations, 
each speaking a distinct dialect, the Iroquois were united in a confed- 
eracy variously termed the "Hodenosaunee" (People of the Long 
House), "the Iroquois Confederacy," and "the League of the Five 
N^itions."'' 

Beginning at the Hudson and proceeding westward the confeder- 
ated nations occupied the land in the following order, the Mohawks, 
the Oneidas, the Onondaga^, the Cayugas, and the Senecas. Of 
tliese the Mohawks, were the most formidable and influential and 
the Senecas, the most numerous, while the Onondagas from their 
central position and from the fact that the great council fire of the 
Confederacy was kindled in their territory rivalled the Mohawks in 
inlluence, as they did the Serecas in numbers. 

The character of the Iroquois, and particularly that of the Mohavi^k, 
v/as peculiarly abhorant and repulsive according to modern stand- 
ards. Fierce, cruel and brutal, his nature was devoid of the finer 
sentiments of love and mercv. He seemed to lack natural afFec- 



40 JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

tion and to be controlled by his passions. Even his fidelity was rath- 
er that of the brute than of the man. Devoted to the chase he hunted 
nen as he did animals, for the sole gratification of his ferocious in- 
stincts, finding his chief delight in massacre and in the torture of 
his captives. In person foul, in life degraded, it is only in his poetic 
UTiagination and in his eloquence at the council-fire that the Iroquois 
warrior rose above the beast. "^ Add to the ferocity of his disposition, 
his tenacity of purpose, his sagacity in war and council, his powers to 
endure hunger, cold and privation, and his fortitude under torture — 
add these qualities, and he becomes, as he was, the most powerful and 
most dreaded of the Indian race. 

Though their fighting force appears to have never exceeded twen- 
ty-five hundred \\ arriors, the confederates annihilated nation after na- 
tion destroying with relentless fury thousands and tens of thousands 
of men, women and children, until from the St. Lawrence to the Po- 
tomac and the Tennessee, and from Nova Scotia to the Mississippi, 
they were masters supreme. A more remarkable record of conquest 
can scarecly be found in the pages of the world's history, and well 
are they entitled to the name which has been given them, "the Rom- 
ans of the West."" 

Although opinions may dilTer as to the personal characteristics of 
these savages and as to the motives which influenced their lives — for 
even they find apologists — there can be but one as to the unportant 
pi.rt which the Confederacy played in the struggle between England 
and France for the sovereignity of North America. In the early 
part of the 17th century the French explorer Champlain accompan 
ied a hand of Algonkins to the lake which bears his name. There 
they met and defeated, chiefly through the effectiveness of the fire- 
arms of the white men, a party of Mohawks. This act in conjunction 
with the later alliance of the French with the Hurons, Algonkins 
and other heriditary foe of the Iroquois aroused in them 
a bitter hostility to the Canadian settlers, which for a cen- 
tury and a half yielded neither to the diplomacy nor arms of 
France. Stretching like a slender chain between the rival colonies 
of the t\\ o great European powers the Five Nations formed an im- 
passible barrier to French advance southward, and a sure bulwark to 
the Dutch and English settlements. Never swerving in its friend- 
ship to England, or rather in its hatred of France, the Confederacy 
held in check the enemy until the Anglo-Saxon, gathering force and 
vigor behind this savage rampart, took the offensive and compelled 
France to relinquish her dominion over Canada. The services ren- 
dered to England by the Iroquios are inestimable. Without their 



.li:FI'h:iiSOX COUNTY CEXTENiSlAL. 41 

undying hatred for the French the whole course of American history 
might have been changed.^ 

It was this league of indomitable warriors, and the Oneidas and 
Onondagas in particular, who held in insecure tenure, as a portion of 
their hunting grounds, the territory which now forms Jefferson Coun- 
ty ; and, though after the arrival of the Europeans on the St. Law- 
rence and the Hudson these Indians never permanently occupied it, 
they had here a few fishing villages and winter camps for hunting. 

Indian Trails and Canoe Routes. 

This region, however, was chieHy a land of passage for the Iroquois 
m their excursions to the beaver-lands north of Lake Ontario, to 
wb.ich they claimed title, and for their war-parties against the French 
on the St. Lawrence and the western Indians coming to the Mon- 
treal fur-market by way of the Ottawa River. 

The canoe route from the Onondaga Nation to Canada passing 
down the Oswego River skirted the eastern shore of Ontario to 
Stony Creek in the present town of Henderson; a mile up this stream 
there was a short "carry" to the head of Henderson Harbor; here the 
ro'..re divided ; the one to the Otta\^ a following the lake islands. Stony, 
the Galloups and the Ducks, to the northern shore, and thence by 
the Cadaraqui River, on which Kingston now stands, and by the Ri- 
dean to the Ottawa ; the St. Lawrence route passed from Henderson 
into Chaumont Bay, where the voyager could cross to the river by 
the "Long" or "Short Carrying Place" on Point Penninsula, or pad- 
dle up Chaumont River to the head of navigation, from which a port- 
age of six miles brought him to French Creek at Clayton.^ 

From the Oneida country two routes passed through this section. 
The first, and most generaly travelled, began with a long "carry'' 
fiom Oneida Lake to the Salmon River at some distance from its 
mouth and thence to Ontario where it followed the Onondaga route.^* 
The second was from the Mohawk up West Canada Creek, thence 
through the forest to the headwaters of the Black River, down which 
the Oneida paddled to the neighborhood of the present site of the 
village of Great Bend, where he took a trail which soon 
brought him to the Indian River; here again launching his canoe 
he followed the winding stream to Black Lake, from which he 
reached the St. Lawrence by the Oswegatchie River. ^^ 

It has been necessary in these remarks concerning the Iroquois and 
'heii routes through this region to consider some things, which come 



42 JEFFERSON COCSTY CE.XTEyMJL. 

chronologically later, but the intimate connection of this people with 
our subject both prehistorically and historically, has compelled this di- 
gression. 

Iroquois Myth and Tradition. 

The Indians of North America possessed strong imaginative 
powers, which found expression in the poetic imagery of their orators 
and the folk-lore of their medicine-men. In two of the tales, which 
were often repeated in the "long-houses" of the Confederacy, ttiis re- 
gion prominently figures. One is purely mythical ; the other, tradi- 
tional. 

The myth is one of several concerning the origin of the Iroquois 
race.^^ Upon the banks of one of the small streams flowing northward 
itito the south branch of Sandy Creek, where the rocks are piled in 
confused heaps and where once stood a grove of giant pines, there is- 
sued from a subterranean world by ? way torn open by the thunder 
bhist of "Ha-wen-ne-yu," the Great Spirit, a red-skinned man and wo- 
man. Following down the little rivulet to the larger stream the pair 
rcioicing in their new-found world of light, built their hut where the 
Salmon crowded the rapids in floodtime, where the beaver abounded, 
•I'lJ where the woods were filled with moose and elk. Here in the 
forest gloom of this hunter's paradise the first Iroquois reared their 
ihi'd''en and founded a race of future conquerors. Such was the 
lep'-nd recovmted to mary a band of Iroquois mourners, who gathered 
;n I he hut of the deceased after the funeral rites had been performed. 

The tradition which has to do with this section is one concerning the 
niipration of the ancestors of the Five Nations from the neighborhood 
of Montreal to their later home in central New York.^-' When the 
Iroquois were but one nation and few in number, so the tale runs, they 
lived along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence below its rapids 
engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture.^^ Here they were 
conquered bv a savage tribe from the upper Ottawa, who lived solely 
by the cha-^e and who often during severe winters were forced to 
sustain life by eating the buds and young bark of trees, from which 
cirLiunstaf^ce the Iroquois termed them "Adirondacks", which means 
''tree-eaters."^ ' 

The brutal tyranny of their conquerors at last compelled the un- 
\\-arlike Iroquois to open rebellion. Unsuccessful in their endeavor the 
vanqvn'shed fled up the St. Lawrence to escape the wrath of their mas- 
ters. This flight was not one of a night ror of wep.ks but tioubtless 
occupied years, the fuf'itives repeatedly fa'ing their foe and gaining 
warlike skill by constant battle. Along the St. r,awence and through 
the woodlands of Ontario's eastern shore the nation slowlv retired con- 



.IMFFERSON COLWTV (I'JXTEyM.lL. 48 

lending stubbornly for the new villages which they constructed, until 
nnalJy, hopeless of peace, they turned inland, and crossing the ridges 
of the Lesser Wilderness or following up the Oswego River they 
founded a new home far away from the. land* of the Adirondacks.^^ 

!t is but natural, as the legend unfolds and the long struggle foi 
existence and freedom passes up the St. Lawrence to the shores of 
the lake that the mind should turn instinctively to the earthworks 
scattered through this county.. 

Was it here that the ancestors of the great Confederacy made their 
l:i«t stand before crossing the highlands into the valleys of the Mohawk 
and Onondaga? Was it here that the first Iroquois developed theii 
wo' Mike characteristics which made their posterity the scourge of east- 
ern North America? An affirmative answer is mere conjecture based 
upon a tradition retold by generations, and yet it presents a possible 
e>p!i;nation of the grass-grown trenches and ramparts, which invite 
the thought and corsideration of the curious and the scholarly. 

Samuel dc Champlaui}"' 

The historic period of this region begins with the adventurous expe- 
dition of Champlain, in the ear!y years of the 17th century, to the 
v.-estern waters of the St. Lawrence system. There are four figures 
pre-eminent in the history of New France — Jacques Cartier, the dis- 
coverer of the St. Lawrence : Samuel de Champlain, the explorer of the 
Great Lakes; Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, who gave the 
West to France; and Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, the great- 
est of the royal governors. Of these four the last three landed on 
these shores. 

Samuel de Chami'ain, ihe son of a Biscayan mariner, was in 1603 
commissioned by Her ly of Navarre to explore the regions discovered 
by Cart'er. Possessed of a powerful frame, indomitable energy and 
absolute fearlessness, this Frerch saMor, already exnerienced in the ha- 
zards of the western ocean, was well ntted to undertake the mission. 
For twelve years h-' ;'\;)]ored the eastern territory about the Gulf of 
St. La\^rence, but in July, 161 S- lie set out with two white compan- 
ions and several Indians to visit the distant country of the Hurons ly- 
ing about Georgian Fay and Lake Simcoe. Having reached his des- 
tination I-,y wn\ of ihc Oii.^-ji River Champlain joined a large war- 
party, which was about to proceed against the Iroquois, and paddling 
do'.vn the River Trent reached Ontario at the entrance of the Bay 
of Quinte.^^. 

AVe can picture the bearded and sun-browned Frenchman in hi« 
steel cap and cuirass, his leathern garments stained and torn by the for- 



44 JEFFERSO^^ COryTY CESTEAMJ L. 

est. seated in the bow of his birch canoe as it glided out upon the wa- 
ters of the lake. We can imagine his feelings of ardor and expecta- 
tion as unknown shores rose from the waves of this great inland sea. 
Behind and about him moved a fleet of canoes containing scores of 
swarthy warriors, whose naked bodies swaying to the sweep of the pad- 
dles shone with vermillion war-paint, while the eagle plumes of then 
war- caps bent to the lake breeze. 

The exact course of this fiotillia has been the subject of dispute, 
but whether they crossed to the eastern shore by the islands called the 
Ducks or about the head of Long Island (also named Grand Island), 
the band undoubtedly camped for a night at the foot of Galloup or 
Stony Island. So it was upon one of these that a white man first set 
foot on the soil of \\ hat is today Jefferson County. Ten years from 
nov,' will be the tricentennial of that event. Would it not be appro- 
priate if a monumert could then be unveiled upon one of these is- 
lands in commemoration of the sturdy explorer who was the first to 
dare the unkrown waters of Ontario? 

From the p'ace of the first encampment two routes for the expedi- 
tion have been suggested by the authorities, the one into Henderson 
Harbor and thence by land to Sahr.on River, the other by water along 
the cliffs of Stony Point and the sandy shores south to the same river. 
From an examiration of Champlain's map of 1632 and judging from 
the known caution of the Indians in avoiding the rocky promitory of 
Stony Point it would seem as if each of these suggested routes was m 
part w^rorg It should be remembered that, while the topography ot 
the region was unknown to the French explorer, it was undoubtedly 
familiar to nany of the warriors who accompanied him. These would 
naturally have followed, and doubtless did, the usual Indian route to 
the head of Henderson Pay, crossed overland to Stony Creek and 
crept along the Ellisburgh shore to Salmon River. Here concealing 
their canoes in the forest, the Hurons, confident in the invincable char- 
acter of their white a' lies, took the Oneida trail south. 

The exact date when Champlain first beheld the waters and shores 
of eastern Ontario cannot be certainly determined, but ft was some- 
time between the first and tenth day of October, 1615 . Before the 
2';th of the month he was aiain in his canoe speeding northward to- 
ward the Story Creek portage. The attempt upon the Iroquois 
stronghold had failed a'^d his undisciplined army of savages pursued 
by their foe had fled to the lakeshore. Champlain himself sorely 
•Aounded by arrows was borne through the forest on the back of a war- 
rior, complainii-'g bitterly at his lot but thankful to find the canoes un- 
molested bv the enemv. With precipitate haste the beaten Huron> 



JBFFERSON COLWTV CEATENNIAL. 45 

crossed the lake to the northern shore, where they remained several 
M-eeks before proceeding homeward. 

The Frenchmen had expected to return to Quebec by way of the St. 
Lawrence, but being unable to obtain canoemen they were forced to 
return to the Huron country for the winter. The following spring 
they reached the French settlements by way of the Otawa. 

First Voyagers Among Thousand Islands. 

Champlain did not explore the upper St. Lawrence, although some 
writers have so stated.^" The honor of being the first white man to 
look upon the wondrous scenery of the Thousand Islands belongs to 
Pere Poncet, one of the early Jesuit missionaries, who was a prisoner 
among the Mohawks. In 1653 he succeeded in making his way to 
Ontario, and his Indian companions constructing a canoe near the out- 
let of the lake (probably in Henderson Harbor) paddled him down 
the St. Lawrence to Montreal. 

The impressions made upon the black-robed missionary by the is^ 
land scenery were far different from what we should have anticipated 
The dark foliage of the hemlock and cedar, the black rocks overgrown 
with moss and tangled vines seem to have produced a mental gloom 
akin to dread, rather than the admiration and pleasure usually excited 
by the wondrous beauties of the St. Lawrence. To the austere priest 
the beautiful was within, a purity of thought, a hope of eternity; all 
that was without was tainted with sin ; all nature was an instru- 
ment in the hands of the Adversary to win men from their allegi- 
ance to God.-" 

A year after Father Poncet returned to Montreal Simon le 
Mcyre, another member of the Order of Jesus, renowned for his dis- 
covery of the Onondaga ?alt springs, passed up the St. Lawrence in 
a canoe, and coasting along the eastern shore of Ontario entered the 
Oswego River. -^ 

The decade which followed was the blackest period in the history 
of New France. The Iroquois, now skilled in the use of firearms 
n hich they obtained from the Dutch traders of Fort Orange, 
swarmed into the Canadian forests and skulked about the little settle- 
ments on the St. Lawrence. The Ontario route to the Ottawa was 
travelled by numerous war-parties, and scores of Iroquois canoes 
passed down from the lake to the neighborhood of Montreal in search 
of scalps and plunder. It was during the latter part of this decade, in 
t66i, that the courageous priest LeMoyne again visited the Thous- 
and Islands and Ontario on his way to the Onondagas, daring a 
route that was everywhere infested by the Mohawk war-bands. 



4() .IKFFKRSOy COiWTY VEXTEyMAL. 

Two years later (1663) the valley of St. Lawrence was visited by 
an earthquake, of which the historian Charlevoix gives a most vivid 
description.--. Beginning in February with tremendous upheavals 
which overthrew mountains and changed the beds of rivers causing 
ing the greatest terror among the colonists, already harassed and dis- 
heartened by the depredations of the savages, the seismic disturbances 
continued until August becoming less and less frequent. Unfortu- 
nateh there was no scientific observation or report of the result of 
the earthquake, so it is impossible to say what topographical changes 
took place, or to what degree it affected this region. 

Courcelles an/1 LaSalle. 

When the fortunes of Canada had reached their lowest ebb Dan- 
iel de Remi, Seigneur de Courcelles, arrived as governor with the 
Marquis de Tracy as royal intendant. The governor's energetic 
policy of retaliation upon the Mohawks brought rest to the wearied 
colony. Negotiations for peace were renewed and the route to the 
Onondaga country was again frequented by white men. 

It was about this time that Cavalier, better known to the world as 
Lu Salle arrived at Montreal. He uas a young man not thirty 
year« old, when, tempted by the tales told b^' Seneca traders of a 
great river flowing westward fro-m the lands south of Ontario, he 
or<zanized a small party to visit the unknown stream hoping that it 
would be found to empty into the Great South Sea. In seven can- 
o..'- La Salle and his companions paddled up the St. Lawrence, and 
passing by the usual Indian route through this region he followed 
the lake shore to Irondequot Bay. Here we must leave the daring 
young explorer, though he will be found later in this neighborhood. 

Canada now entered upon a period of rapid growth and develop- 
ment, as the direct result of the administration of her able intendant, 
Jean Baptiste Talon. He had at once reco'^nized the strategic im- 
portance of the waterM'av at the eastern end of Ontario, and in 1670 
strongly advocated the establishment in that region of a military post 
garrisoned with a himdred men and furnished with a galley which 
could be used to intercept the Iroquois war-parties passing between 
H.^nderson Bay and the Cadaraqui River or the St. Lawrence. 
Soon after recording this suggestion and apparently upon further in- 
formation he advised the construction of two posts, the one on the 
north side, and other on the south side of the lake at its outlet. ^^ 
Unfortunately for the future peace of New France this latter plan 
was either disapproved or ignored. 



.lEFFERSOy COIWTY CENTEX S I A L. 47 

Governor Courcelles, perceiving, however, the necessity of protect- 
ing the Ottawa River from Iroquois depredations and making it a 
safe highway for the transportation of furs from the west, deter- 
mined to personally inspect the region about the outlet of Ontario 
which seemed to be the key to the situation. He therefore set out 
from Montreal on June 3, 167 1, with fifty-six companions. In or- 
der to impress the Indians with French ability he managed with 
much difficulty to drag up the rapids of the St. Lawrence a flat-bot- 
tomed galley of two or three tons burthen. On the l2thof Junehc 
Ci'tered Ortario. 

Here he found encamped in the bays of the eastern shore engaged 
in fishing and hunting a number of Iroquois, who had been apprised 
of his coming by the Jesuit Simon le Moyne, whom the Governor 
had dispatched in advance to proclaim his pacific intentions. Some- 
where on the shores of Chaumont, Henderson or Black River Bay 
Courcelles met the hunters, expressed to them his desire for their 
friendship and trade, and gave them letters for tht missionaries lab- 
oring in their villages. Satisfied with the wonder caused by his gal- 
ley and with the friendliness of the savages the Governor returned 
10 Montreal convinced more than ever of the necessity of garrison- 
ing the outlet of Lake Ontario 

The chronicler of the expedition, while making much of the diffi- 
culties encountered in ascending the rapids of the St. Lawrence 
describes another annoyance with which those who today journey 
through the northern forests in June and July are unpleasantly fa- 
milar. It was the mosquito or black fly; and of it the writer gave 
this vivid description: "It is a fly, similar to the French gnat, so tor- 
menting that a vast number of them are constantly around you, 
seeking an opportuviity to light on the face or parts of the body pro- 
tected merely by a slight covering ea'^ily pierced by their sting, and 
are no sooner down than they suck blood, in place of which they de- 
posit a species of poison, that excites a strange itching with a small 
tumor which lasts three or four days."-^ One can imagine Seigneur 
de Courcelles, famous for his elegance of manner and superbness ot 
dress, his face distorted with the venomous bites of the insects, slap- 
ping, scratching and cursing with all the vehemance but none of the 
grace for which the courtiers of "Le Grand Monarch" were ever, re- 
nowned. 

Arrii'al of the Conite de Frontenar. 

The year after this expedition its leader was forced to retire from 
the governorship on account of ill health. He was succeeded by the 
Comte de Frontenac. The new governor was a man of exceptional 



48 .JEFFERSoy COlWry CFATFXMJL. 

ability and strength of character, though with extravagant tastes 
which he did not hesitate to gratify with money often obtained by 
very questionable means. He furthermore aroused the antipathy of the 
clergy by his high-handed methods, and it was chiefly through their 
efforts that he was finally recalled. 

Frontenac immediately perceived the necessity of controlling the 
eastern end of Lake Ontario, and in 1673, the year after his arrival, 
he determined to inspect the region. ^'^ Having sent forward La Salle 
to the Onondagas to invite them to a council on the north side of 
the Lake, he started up the St. Lawrence and reached Ontario be- 
fore the Indian deputies arrived. While awaiting their coming the 
Governor personally explored the eastern shore visiting the bays and 
islands of this section. '" 

On the arrival of the Indians a great council, occupying several 
days, took place at Cadaraqui ; and there Frontenac remained some 
time entertaining the Iroquois and exterding his examination of the 
southern shore, until his men had completed a log fort, which with 
characteristic modesty he named "Frontenac" as he subsequently did 
the lake which it was intended to guard. 

La Salle and Fort Frontenac. { 

La Salle, whose ability and enterprise appealed to the energetic 
governor, was shortly after the return of the expedition to Montteal 
j.M'ven the command of the new post. Loving adventure and rest- 
less by disposition the young commandant often visited the islands 
and shores on this side of the lake, which he reported to abound with 
elk, deer, bear, otter and the grey moose. In his correspondence may 
also be found accurate descriptions of the wild fruits indigenous to 
the soil. 2*^ 

In 1675 La Salle was granted a patent of nobility; and, upon 
condition that he construct a stone fort and garrison it, he was given 
stignorial authority over Fort Frontenac and the islands opposite it, 
together with the fishing rights over Ontario and its rivers."''' The 
lake abouRded in white fish, lake trout and other food fish, and the 
streams swarmed with salmon and brook trout. Even in the early 
part of the last century enormous catches of salmon were made in the 
Ellisburgh creeks. It was over these waters that Sieur de la Salle 
held the exclusive, but then useles"^ privilege of taking fish ; and the 
grant also included the equally valueless monopoly of hunting on 
the lake shores. 

The Comte de Frontenac was accustomed to make an annual visit 
to the fort on the Cadaraqvu', often extending his journey to the east- 



JEFFERSON cor STY ('KMFSMAE. 49 

ern shore of the lake, where he seems to have had in view the possi- 
bilit)' of establishing another post, as the Intendant Talon had advo- 
cated.^^ 

Henne})in.'''^ 

It was at this time that Louis Hennepin, a Reccolet friar (who 
subsequently published a book of his travels containing the fir.-t pic- 
ture of Niagara Falls and other interesting illustrations) was sta- 
tioned at Fort Frontenac to labor among the Indians encamped on 
the Cadaraqui and the Bay of Quinte. In the winter of 1677 accom- 
panied by a soldier of the garrison he crossed the frozen lake on 
snow shoes to this region and thence made his way through the for- 
est to Onondaga. He visited the Oneida and Mohawk villages, 
from which turning northward the two companions crossed the wat- 
ershed between the Mohawk and Black Rivers, and following down 
the latter to Ontario finally arrived safely at Fort Frontenac. 

Though the Chevalier de la Salle carried on an extensive trade 
with the Indians at Cadaraqui he failed to make the venture a fin- 
ancial success and in 1682 the Marquis de la Barre, who had suc- 
ceeded Frontenac as governor, seized the seigniory during La Salle's 
absence in the Mississippi country on the ground that it was forfeit- 
ed because the fort had not been maintained. 

La Bane's Expedition to La Fainine.^^'' 

Meanwhile the Iroquois, grown arrogant by their successes against 
the Indian allies of the French in the west, treated the garrison of 
Frontenac with increasing insolence, intercepted the canoes bringing 
furs from the upper lakes, and even phmdered the bark with which 
the French navigated Ontario. "''^ The disorders continued to in- 
crease in spite of the embassy of Charles Ic Moyne, the most famous 
Indian fighter in Canada, who in 1683 passed through this region to 
the Seneca country returning to Montreal with deputies from that 
nation. ^^ Impelled by renewed outrages of the Iroquois, particular- 
ly {-.gainst the Illinois, La Barre, a feeble and timid old man, decid- 
ed finally to conduct a punitive expedition against the Senecas, who 
vvere the chief offenders. Collecting an army of eight hundred 
whites and two hundred Indians he proceeded to Fort Frontenac ar- 
riving there August 9, 1684. 

Immediately on his arrival the governor despatched the Jesuit 
Jacques de Lamberville to his elder brother Jean, who was resident 
among the Onondagas, with the request that the latter use their in- 
fluence with that nation to persuade the Senecas to an amicable set- 



50 JEFFERS()^' COL'STV CKMKXMJL. 

tiement of the differences between them and the French. At the 
same time he sent forward Sieur D'Orvilliers with two brigades and 
a party of Indian scouts to La Famine, which, La Barre reported 
was "a post favorable for fishing and hunting." A week later hav- 
ing received word that the Onondagas intended to send delegates to 
coLuicil with him, the governor embarked in his batteaux and canoes 
for La Famine. 

The location of La Famine has been a subject of much controver- 
sy and discussion. After carefully weighing the evidence it seems 
probable that the place of meeting between La Barrc and the Onon- 
daga? was at the mouth of Sandy Creek in Ellisburgh. No other 
spot seems to so fully coincide with the conditions described.^^ 

The force which M. de la Barre led across Ontario to the marshy 
shores of this locality must have presented a strange appearance to 
one familiar with the usual order and discipline of a military expedi- 
tion. Of over one thousand men buf one hundred and thirty were 
regular troops. The remainder consisted of peasant militiamen, ad- 
venturers, coureurs de bois, Hurons, Ottawas, and Algonkins, with 
a number of Iroquois, who having been converted by the Jesuits had 
removed to Canada settling near Montreal and on the Bay of Quinte. 

Of this little army the least amenable to discipline and the most 
picturesque were the coureurs de bois, unique products of the wilder- 
ness who had abandoned civilization for the freedom — or rather the 
license — of the forest.''^^ A writer of the time says, that many of 
rhem had become veritable barbarians wearing the clout, leggms and 
head-dress of the Indians, their black beards and hair hanging ovei 
their naked breasts and shoulders, which exposure had bronzed to 
the color of their savage companions. They even employed for 
adornment vermillion war-paint and brass earrings; scalped their en 
eiuies; tortured their captives; indulged in the war-dance; uttered 
:he war-whoop ; and were the prey of superstition like the Indians 
whom they imitated. 

These strange adopted sons of the wilderness play an interesting 
part in the border wars of Canada, now aiding and now resisting the 
French authorities, ambushing English and Dutch fur-traders in the 
west smuggling beaver-skins from the Ottawa to Fort Orange, or 
guiding a devoted priest through the forests. Governor Denon- 
ville said of them, that they were "tall and well-made, robust and 
active, and accustomed to live on little;" but that they were "guilty 
of an infinitude of disorders," and that "the most frightful crimes" 
were perpetuated by "the young warriors and the French who resort 



JEFFERSOy CnrXTY CFyTMXXlA E. 51 

tci the woods." Uneducated, impatient of restraint, brutish in life, 
cruel and passionate, the coureurs de bois were a most uncertain 
factor in military operations."'' 

Starting from Fort Frontenac the galleys and canoes of La Barre, 
after battling with a strong head wind and high sea, reached Gal- 
loup or Stony Island, where they passed the night, and arrived at La 
Famine in the evening of the next day. There the Governor found 
the vanguard under D'Orvilliers suffering with many cases of aci 
intermittant fever, which \A'as probably the same as the malarial 
"lake fever" to which, the Rev. Mr. Taylor says, the early settlers 
of Ellisburgh were subject while cutting hay in the marshes. To 
add to the discomfort and depression of the army, dampness spoiled 
large quantities of the bread which had been baked at Frontenac, and 
a scarcity of provisions was imminent."^". 

When the Iroquois deputies arrived on September 3rd, they found 
La Karre, who had then been two weeks at La Famine with his tev- 
er-stricken and half-starved followers, ready to make peace on almost 
any terms. The council was brief and, through the influence of a 
Seneca chieftain who was present but took no part in the discussions, 
France, by the treaty which was signed on the 4th, ignominiously 
abandoned her western allies, becoming practically neutral in the war 
r.f extermination which the Senecas were waging against the Illinois. 
Immediately on the conclusion of the council the French set out for 
Fort Fro"terac. aba^'doning ma-^y of their canoes and some of theii' 
batteaux because there were not enough men free from di-sease to man 
them. 

The Jeuit Jean de T amberville. who from the first had advocated 
peace rather than punishment, hailed La Barre as "the Liberator of 
his Country "•^'' but Lewis XIV was not equally pleased. He in- 
formed the Intendant de Meules that he was much dissatisfied with 
tl.e outcome of the expedition and was "seriously displeased" at the 
abandoment of the Illinois, the allies of France. At the same time 
the king wrote to La Barre relieving him from the governorship, po- 
litely adding "your years do not permit you to support the fatigues 
inseperable from the duties of your office."'^''' So ended La Barre's 
American career. He was succeeded by the Marquis Denonville. 

Dcnonville's Expcdition.^^ 

The new governor found affairs along the St. Lawrence in a very 
satisfactory state, but in the west it was far different. The Senecas 
with many of the Mohawks were vigorously prosecuting the war in 
the Illinois country, burning villages, laying waste the fields, and 



52 .IF.FhERSOy COlWrV r/.;.V77';.V.V/./L. 

murdering thousands. In order to divert the Senecas from theii 
prey and to force their war-parties to return from the west, Denon* 
ville determined to invade their territory. 

About the time that this expedition was to set out from Montreal, 
D'Orvilliers, the commandant at Fort Frontenac, seized by the gov- 
ernor's order, forty Iroquois encamped near the fort engaged in trade 
and sent them bound to Montreal. This was done for fear that these 
savages, though friendly to the French, might warn their kinsmen 
of the impending invasion.^" It was an ill-judged act which bore 
bitter fruit. 

Denonville, accompanied by the Chevalier de Vaudreuil, arrived 
at Fort Fronterac on July ist, 1087, with seventeen hundred troops; 
and on the 4th the expedition in one hundred and forty batteaux and 
a large number of canoes set out for the Iroquois country "by way 
of La Famine." On the same day they very opportunely reached the 
"Island named des Galots", for a tempest swept over the lake short- 
ly after their arrival. All that night and the following day the 
storm continued, and it was not until noon of the 6th that the 
batteaux could again be launched and the journey renewed. Before 
evening Deronville's boats had been drawn out on the sandy beaches 
near La Famine, where it would appear from later documents he 
established a temporary post to guard his line of communication.*^ 
In returning from the expedition the Governor crossed the lake near 
Niagara and followed the northern shore to Frontenac, thus circum- 
navigating the lake and not a second time visiting this region. 

It is of interest to note that the converted Iroquois who accompan- 
ied Denonville were led by Kryn, "Le Grand Anie" (the Great Mo- 
hawk), as he was called by the French.^' who t\\() years later directed 
the savages in the attack upon Schenectady and became notorious as a 
marauder along the New England border.''-'' 

The Strategy of kondiaronk.** 

Another event, which occurred at this time and in this section, 
aroused the Onondagas and Oneidas even more than the unprovoked 
seizure of their warriors near Front Frontenac. Kondiaronk, better 
known as "Le Rat."^' a chieftain of the Dinondadies living at Michil- 
li-nacinac, was suspected by the French of secret dealings with the 
Iroquois. The rumor reached the ears of the chief, and in order to 
convince his white friends of his fidelity and to secure their friend- 
ship he organized a war-parfy and set out for the Iroquois country by 
way of Fort Frontenac. Arriving at the post Kondiaronk found that, 
as a result of Denonville's expedition, the Oneidas and Onondagas 



Jhjri' i<:rs<k\ ( oiwrY cexte.wmaIj. 53 

were disposed toward peace, and that their envoys were expected to 
pass Frontenac within a few days on their way to Montreal. The 
commandant urged the Dinondadies, therefore, to return home lest 
thr!r presence might cause the Iroquois to be suspicious of the inten- 
tions of the French. 

Kondiaronk seemingly complied with the request and led his war- 
party out of the fort. But it was not his purpose to allow the peace 
iic;.'otiario:'s to cuntirue, if he could prevent them, fearing that friend- 
ship between the French and Iroquois would be injurious to the in- 
terests of his nation. Crossing the lake by a circuitous route the 
chieftain concealed his warriors near the portage between Stony Creek 
and Henderson Harbor.'*'' Two days later the unsu'^pecting envoys 
with forty companions arrived and were suddenly attacked by Kondi- 
aronk and his men. The surprise was complete, all of the Iroquois 
being killed or captured. 

The chieftain now exhibited a shrewdness, for which he was fam- 
ous. He gave his captives to understand that he had ambushed them 
by direction of the French authorities ; and they in turn told him ol 
their mission and the promised safe-guard of the Governor. Upon 
hearing that the party which he had attacked were envoys, Kondiaronk 
evinced the greatest astonishment and, as Dr. Colden says, pretended 
"to grow Mad and Furious" declaring that he would "be Revenged o\ 
him (the Governor) for making a Tool of him to commit such 
horrid Treachery." Bewailing the fact that he had attacked the sa- 
cred persons of ambassadors through ignorance of their office, the 
wily chieftain as evidence of his sincerity set free his prisoners and 
furnished them with arms and ammunition. Completely deceived the 
Iroquois assured him of the gratitude of their people and turned back 
to their country. 

Kondiaronk immediately recrossed the lake to Front Frontenac, pre- 
sented himself before the commandant and exclaimed, "I have killed 
the peace." Without vouchsafing further explanation to the astonished 
officer he rejoined his warriors and was soon on his way to Michilli- 
macinac. The results were all that the crafty savage could have de- 
sired ; from one end of the Confederacy to the other sounded the war- 
songs and steamed the war-kettles, while the war-posts bristled with 
I'.acchets as their owners, daubed with the paint of battle, vowed ven- 
g,anre against the treacherous Frenchmen. 

While hundreds of the infuriated Iroquois sought the lower St. 
Lawrence by the way of Lake Champlain killing and capturing 
scores upon scores of the settlers about Montreal, others equally en- 
raged turned to the stone fort upon the Cadaraqui. Charlevoix 



54 JEFFEHSOA COIWTY CE XTEXNIA L. 

says that Lake Ontario, "was covered with the enemy's canoes." 
Party after party from the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca cantons 
paddled along the lagoons of Ellisburgh, crossed the portage at 
Stony Creek and passed northward through Henderson Bay toward 
Frontenac. The fort was invested. A few of the garrison fell 
into the hands of the savages and as wretched captives passed 
through this region on their way to an agonizing death in the 
fires of the Iroquois villages. At last the defenders, few in number 
and hopeless of relief, destroyed their supplies, threw their can- 
non into the bay, scuttled their vessels, and blowing up the walls of 
the iort n.ade good their escape to Montreal.'*" 

The abandonment of the Cadaraqui station and also the fort at 
Niagara was a serious blow to the prestige of the French arms. The 
Iroquois controlled Lake Ontario, and the route at the eastern end of 
the lake, which led to the Ottawa, was open to their warriors. Band 
after band sought that highway to the west plundering and murder- 
ing the traders as they passed down the river with their bales of furs 
lor the Canadian market. For a time the trade was paralyzed, and 
the chief source of revenue for New France was cut off. 

Frontenac's Expedition J gainst the OnondaiuisJ^ 

In this extremity the Court of Versailles, forgetting the short-com- 
ings of the Comte de Frontenac and remembering only his energy and 
ability, sent him out a'jain as governor of the colo v. Although the 
Iroquois had boastfully declared that the fort on the Cadaraqui should 
never be rebuilt, the sturdy governor sent a strong force to the place 
jn 1^95 and soon the white flag of France again floated aoove the 
stone bastions of Fort Frontenac*" 

To still further impress the Onondagas — the nation he deemed 
most dangerous to French interest in the west — Frontenac de- 
termined to invade their territory and chastise them for their active 
hostility to France. Early in July, 1696, taking command in 
person he departed from Montreal with two thousand men in- 
cluding a large number of Indian allies. In advance of the van- 
guard went fifty coureurs de bois and Abenakis under the com- 
mand of Mantet, notorious as the officer who directed the sack of 
Schenectady in 1690.''" On July i8th the army arrived at Fort 
Frontenac. Eight days later they departed in batteaux and 

canoes and arrived at Grenadier Island where they encamped, Mantet 
and his scouts keeping well in advance of the main body. 
The day following the expedition made its camp on the Ellisburgh 
sands and on the 28th entered the Oswego River. 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 55 

Three weeks later the courageous old nobleman, far past his 
"three score years and ten", feeble in body but indomitable in will, is- 
sued with his transports from the mouth of the Oswego. He had suc- 
ceeded in humbling the haughty Onondagas, and had forced the On- 
eidas to sue for peace. In spite of a severe gale the fleet started on its 
homeward journey covering ten leagues the first day. The chronicler 
of the expedition says : "The navigation is quite dangerous for canoes 
and batteaux; the waves extraordinarily high and the land very dif- 
ikult, there being numerous shoals in some places, and in others head- 
lands against which the billows dash to a stupendous height." Here 
IS evidently the impression made by a coasting voyage along the EUis- 
biirgh shore and the cliffs of Stony Point. That night the army en- 
camped "in a river," so the memoir states, though it was probably 
in Henderson or Chaumont Bay, and the next day arrived at Fort 
Frontenac. 

From its rebuilding in 1695 until its capture by the English in 1758 
the fort on the Cadaraqui was uninterruptedly maintained by the 
French. To those experianced with the conditions existing the con- 
trol of Lake Ontario became an important factor in the rivalry be- 
tween England and France for the possesion of North America. Ca- 
i.'adian officials were continually urging their home government to es- 
tablish a military post on the south side of the lake, which with Fort 
Frontenac and Fort Niagara would insure French control. The New 
York authorities were equally importunate in their demands for funds 
with which to erect a fort on the lake shore. Viewed from overseas 
things looked much less important than they did in the provinces, and 
neither the French nor English government appreciated the soundness 
of the advice. As a result the state of affairs remained practically un» 
changed for a quarter of a century, although France continued to ex- 
tend and strengthen her chain of forts in the west. 

Oswego. ^^ 

Governor Burnet of the Province of New York finally succeeded 
in 1726 in securing funds to erect a fort at the mouth of the Oswego 
River, where two years before a block house for trading purposes had 
been built. The following spring the work was commenced and soon 
Completed though not without protest and menace on the part of the 
{government of New France. 

The French governor, the Marquis de Beauharnois, made formal 
protest to Governor Burnet, and at the same time sent the Chevalier 
Begon to Oswego. -^^ Before reaching Fort Frontenac the Chevalier 
sent runners to the Onondagas and Oneidas requesting an interview. 



56 JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

In lesponse envoys from the two nations met him on the "lie aux Ga- 
lots," where the council-fire was kindled, the pipe of peace smoked, and 
several days were passed in feasting and speech-making. Before leav- 
ing the island the Iroquois promised that they would insist upon the 
immediate withdrawal of the English from their lands-— a promise 
which they never fulfilled and probably never intended to. Elated 
with the result of this interview Begon proceeded to Oswego and form- 
ally demanded the demolition of the fort. The demand was ignored 
by the English commander, and the Chevalier returned to Montreal 
having accomplished nothing by his mission. 

The succeeding thirty years are uneventful in the history of this 
region. Both governments continued to strengthen their respective 
outposts and to watch with jealous eye the operations of the otHer. 
France constructed two or three small vessels at Fort Frontenac, and 
immediately England did the same at Oswego. These vessels built by 
the rivals seem to have been modelled on lines very similar to the 
flat-bottomed, sloop-rigged scows, which today navigate Ontario, ex- 
cept that they were furnished with banks of oars and carried an arma- 
ment of sirall cannon.'-' 

De Lery's Expedition.^* 

The renewal of hostilities in 1755 after seven years of uncertain 
peace had been anticipated. Governor Vaudreuil hastened reinforce- 
ments to Niagara and Frontenac and planned an immediate attack 
upon Oswego, which was however delayed on account of the lack of 
artillery. The energy of the French governor, the intrigues of Jon- 
caire, the famous coureur de hois, with the Senecas, and the efifect of 
the defeat of General Braddock upon the Indians placed the Eng- 
lish outpost at Osweeo in grave perrl. 

In March, 1756, De Lery, a Canadian lieutenant of colonial troops, 
led an expedition on snow-shoes from La Presentation (now Ogdens- 
bure) aeainst Fort Bull near the present site of Rome. D° Lerv 
passed through the eastern section of this county and, appearing sud- 
denly before the En<zlish fort with two hu-d'-^d a^-' iiffy Canadians 
and a hundred India-^s. romoelled its surre-nler. Having destroyed 
the stores which he foiind. the French commander hastened northward 
taking with him thirty prisoners. Among these was a trader, Robert 
Eastburn, who wrote an account of his experiences as a captive. In- 
stead of returning by the same route by which he had come De Lery 
on reaching Black River appears to have followed its western and 
^.outhern banks to Ontario. Here he was fortunate in finding near 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 5T 

the shore some batteaux from Fort Frontenac, which ferried him with 
his men and prisoners across the mouth of the river, whence he 
marched to the St. Lawrence and along its banks to La Presentation. 

I'he French Camp on Six-Toivn Point.'-' 

Doubtless the batteaux which were so opportunel_v in the neighbor- 
hood of Black River Bay, were engaged in the transportation of troops 
and supplies from Fort Frontenac to Six-'i own Point where, in ac- 
cordance with Vaudreuil's plan against Oswego, a fortified camp was 
t:) be constructed. As soon as the ice in the lake had broken up suf- 
ficiently for navigation (which seems to have been that year exception- 
ally early), Captain de Villiers, one of the most famous partisan lead- 
ers of Carada, was sent with eight hundred Canadians and In- 
d'a.'.s to establish a post "at the head of Nioure Bay," as the waters 
of Henderson and Black River Bays were called. This camp was in- 
tended as a base for scouting parties toward Oswego and the 
Mohawk.^^ 

Within a few years the outlines of an entrenchment could be easily 
traced on that portion of the point known now as "Warner's Island." 
The work was a square with bastions at each corner, and extended be- 
tween fifty and sixty feet on a side and was probably constructed of 
logs set upright in the ground. Situated on the inner side of the point 
this stockaded camp possessed exceptional advantages for watching the 
channel between the m.ainland and Stony Island and the harbor from 
which ran the portage to Stony Creek. It is appropriately named in 
the documents "Camp de I'Observation." 

Dr. Hough in his history of Jefferson County also mentions anoth- 
er post established by the same officer at the mouth of Sandy Creek, 
but it must have been of a very temporary character, since it does not 
figure to any extent in the numerous papers referring to the period. 

From the camp on Six-Town Point Villiers despatched scouts to 
watch the English at Oswego, the garrison of which had been consid- 
erably reinforced, and his Abenakis and Ottawas brought in many 
scalps and prisoners. ■''~ In the early part of June (1756) an English 
sloop attended by eight galleys landed a party on the "He aux Galots" 
who intended to remain some days on a reconnaissance. It happened 
that a band of Villiers' Indians saw the landing, and they hastened 
to the camp to notify their commander. Under cover of darkness a 
force was sent in canoes to surprise the enemy. The enterprise wa» 
successful ; fifteen of the English were killed or captured, and among 
the latter the commander of the scouting party. The remainder 
managed to reach their vessels and made their escape to Oswego. 



58 JEFFERSON COFNTV CENTENNIAL. 

First Naval Battle on the Great Lakes.^^ 

Between Fort Frontenac and Camp de I'Observation the French 
vessels were constantly passing with men and supplies, carrying des- 
patches, and incidentally guarding the approaches to the two posts. 
"C)n the 25th June," writes Goverror Vaudreuil, "as our two Corsaim 
were cruising between the "Islands of Couis (the Ducks) and ttie 
Galots, one of them being near the Bay of Nioure got intelligence of a 
schooner returning to Chauagen (Oswego)." The two French 
vessels pursued the stranger but she managed to elude them. 

The following day the two "corsairs" having spent the night in 
Henderson Bay were returning to Fort Frontenac, when three Eng- 
lish sails were sighted approaching from the Ducks. The French 
imined lately attacked them, and after putting two of the enemy's ves- 
sels to flight captured a twenty-ton sloop with six sailors and eight 
soldiers. This is noteworthy as the first naval battle which took place 
upon the Great Lakes. It was fought in the neighborhood of Gal- 
loup Island and close to the present boundary line between Canada 
and Jefferson County. 

Montcalm's Expedition Against Osivego.^^ 

Meanwhile the Marquis de Montcalm had arrived in Canada to 
take command of the military operations He found the preparations 
for the attack upon Oswego almost completed; and, perceiving tht 
strategic importance of the post, he determined to direct the expedition 
in person. On July 29th he arrived at Fort Frontenac, where three 
regiments of regulars,^" numbering thirteen hundred men, together 
with seventeen hundred Canadians and Indians had already been as- 
eernbled. 

An officer of the Regiment of La Sarre gives some interesting de- 
taik of the expedition. On the day of Montcalm's arrival this regi- 
ment embarked, encamped that niizht on Galloup Island, and on the 
following day arrived at Camp de I'Observation, where they construct- 
ed a number of ovens and commenced baking b^end for the army. On 
Aueust 5th the main body left Fort Frontenac and proceeded to Gal- 
loup Island where tliey were compelled to renia'n two days on account 
of rough weather. On the 8th they arrived at the camp in Nioure 
Bay 

At dawn on the Qth the march beian from the head of Henderson 
Harbor, Canadian and Indian scouts scouring the woods in advance, 
while the veteran grenadiers of La Sarre led the van, Across the port- 
age to Stony Creek and along the sands of Ellisburgh toiled the French 
i\vv)v. All that (lav and the succeeding night the march continued. 



./ 1<: FFERso?; cue \ r y ( e .y tesnia l. 59 

1 he batteaux laden with artillery, ammunition, and provisions, having 
rounded Stony Point, followed the troops. On the 12th Oswego 
was beseiged and two days later capitulated. 

Having razed the fortifications "from cellar to rafter,", and, having 
captured six sloops and a large quantity of munitions, Montcalm re- 
turned to Nioure Bay with sixteen or seventeen hundred prisoners. 
Among these was Colonel Peter Schuyler, nephew of the famous In- 
dian commissioner Peter Schuyler, called by the Iroquois "Quider 
Schuyder," whose influence had preserved to England the friendship of 
the Confederacy during the latter part of the 17th century. At Camp 
(ie I'Observation Montcalm left the Regiment of La Sarre to supervise 
the transportation of the stores collected there, he himself with the 
ri'st of the army proceeding directly to Fort Frontenac. 

It is probable that during the year 1757 a small detachment was 
stationed at the Nioure outpost, ^^ but the immediate danger on the 
w estern frontier having been removed by the destruction of Oswego, 
the regular troops; were recalled to take part in the campaign about 
Crown Point. It would appear that by the close of the year Camp 
de I'Observation had been abandoned on account of the numerical 
weakness of the Frontenac garrison. It was never again reoccupied. 

Bradstreet's Expedition Against Frontenac.^" 

In 1758 the English again took the offensive and General Brad- 
street with an army of four thousand men proceeded to Oswego and 
marched thence along the lakeshore to Henderson Bay. where ox\ 
August 26th he was discovered by Indian scouts from Fort Fronte- 
nac. On the next day twenty-six hundred English appeared before 
the fort, which surrendered without resistance since its garrison con- 
sisted of but fifty-three men. Ha\'ing burned the buildings and scuttled 
{\vt of the seven vessels in the port retaining only two twenty-ton 
brigs, Bradstreet retired to Henderson Bay before he was intercepted 
by the French troops already en route up the St. Lawrence. 

Accompanying General Bradstreet in this expedition were Colonel 
Phillip Schuyler and Captain Horatio Gates, the o^e to be honored 
bv posterity for his magranimous patriotism at the battle of Saratoga, 
the other to be condemned for his jealous intrigues aqainst Schuyler 
r.nd Washington. A lieuterant in the e p^ditio" was Ge r e Clinton, 
who became New York's governor and a vice-president of the Un- 
ited States. 

The army remained some days on the shores of Henderson Bay, 
but finding the French troops had turned back on learning of the fall 
of Fort Frontenac they retired to Fort Bull carrying with them the 



GO .IICFI'ERSOX COL wry rEMESMAL. 

Arrillery which they had captured, many of the cannon being brass 
pieces, which had been taken from Braddock at the time of his dis- 
asterous defeat, and had later been used by Montcalm in his attack up- 
on Oswego 

French Scouting Camps. 

The general successes of the English arms forced the French to 
co'itrriCt their western line of defense along the St. Lawrence. La 
Presentation and a redoubt, Fort Levis, at the head of the Galop Ra- 
pids became the guardians of the upper river, although scouting par- 
ties were to be found in Lake Ontario. There was in August, 1759, 
a small entrenched camp on Galloup Island, and other temporary 
rainps appear to have been situated on Grenadier Island and on the 
mainland near the present site of Cape Vincent."^ From these out- 
posts the coureurs de bois and the Indians kept in close touch with 
the English operations on the upper Mohawk and further west. 

Lord Amherst's Expeditions*^ 

i)Ut the great conflict for North America was nearly ended. Que- 
bec fell on September 17, 1759, and Governor Vaudreuil fled to Mon- 
treal, where he bravely maintained the hopeless struggle for another 
year. Finally on September 7, 1760, three armies invested the town. 
;uid the Governor was forced to make a general capitulation of Can- 
ada. The largest of the three English armies was under the com- 
mand of General Lord Amherst, and came down the St. Lawrence 
from Oswego. 

During the summer troops had continued to arrive at Oswego pre- 
paratory to the final scene in the great drama. On the arrival of 
Lord Amherst and his staff Colonel Sir Frederick Ha'dimand was 
sent forward to the outlet of Ontario with a ^mall detachment to 
drive in the enemy's outposts, but he found that the French had 
vithdrawn to the neighborhood of La Presentation. The army 
shortly arrived in a larsre fleet of transports, and proceeded down the 
St. f-awrence to finht the last battle of the war at Fort Levis. 

It is interesting to note the officers of this expedition that passed 
throiish the waters of this region, the names of whom have become 
familiar to every American through the parts played by them in the 
War for Independence. Among them were General Thomas Gage and 
Lieutenant Israel Putnam, fifteen years later to be rival commanders 
in the opening scenes of the Revolution. Holding commissions were 
Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, the two soldiers of fortune who had 
come to America with General Braddock. E^^pousing the cause of 
the colonists in the apparent hope of personal gain the two comrades 



JI^JFrENSOX rorM'V ('I'LXTI'LWyJJL. 61 

attained high military rank in the Continental Army, but closed theii 
careers, the one as an unscrupulous intriguer against his great com- 
mander, the other as a trator to his adopted country. In charge of the 
seven hundred Iroquois, who accompanied Amherst's army vv^as Sir 

William Johnson, the famous Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and 
with him were his nephew and son-in-law Guy Johnson and Colonel 

John Butler, the notorious Tory leaders of the New York frontier. 

The Fort on Carleton Island. 

With the English conquest of Canada the importance of this re- 
gion as a borderland ceased for a time, and it is not until 1774 that 
it is again mentioned. In that year Sir Frederick Haldimand, the 
commander of the British forces in America, in connection with a gen- 
era! scheme of military occupation of the Great Lakes, caused a fort 
or stockaded camp, to be erected on Buck or Deer Island, now called 
Carleton Island. It seems probable that Ge: eral Haldima:d's know- 
ledge of the locality acquired as the commander of the advance guard 
of Amherst's army had much to do with the selection of the spot foi 
tlip fortification. 

The outbreak of the American Revolution in the year following 
the construction of the post on Carleton Island again made this region 
the frontier between warring peoples, but it did not occupy the same 
relative importance to the events of that period that it had to those 
oi the English and French wars. In the latter struggle the southern 
shores of Ontario had been ahrost continually in the possession of Eng- 
liind or her savage allies; but in the Revolution the American line 
of defense lay along the Mohawk and Susquehanna, Ontario being 
entirely controlled by the English posts at Niagara, (Oswego, Fron- 
tenac and Carleton Island. 

With the commencement of hostilities Colonel Guy Johnson, who 
upon the death of Sir Wiliam had succeeded to the office of Indian 
Commissioner fled from Guy Park on the Mohawk to Oswego accom- 
pained by the infamous Butlers, father and son, and the Mohawk 
chieftain Thayendanegea, known commonly by his English name of 
Joseph Brant. At Oswego Johnson assembled a great council of 
fifteen hundred Indians; and, exercising the power of the Johnson 
name, he persuaded the large majority to cast their lot with Eng- 
land, only the Oneidas and d portion of the Tuscaroras of the 
Iroquois Comfederacy preferring the friendship of the rebelling 
colonists.^^ 

l^his council occurred in May, 1775. Two months laf^r the 
Tory leaders with a chosen band of warriors and about two hundred 



6-2 JEFFERSOy COUNTY CE.\TENN1AL. 

Loyalists passed through this region on their way to Montreal.^" In 
the following year Sir John Johnson, the son and heir of the old 
baronet, and Colonel Daniel Claus, another son-in-law of Sir Wil- 
liam, abandoning their estates on the Mohawk, fled to Canada, 
where the former raised a Tory regiment known as the "Royal 
Greens." 

From the time that the British authorities had sanctioned the em- 
ployment of savages to reduce the colonists to submission,''"^ the fort 
OK Deer Island, which in 1777 or 1778 was renamed Carleton Is- 
land, became a favorite resort for the bands of Tories and Indians, 
who harried the outlying settlements of the New York frontier per- 
petrating the most horrible atrocities upon their former neighbors 
and friends. ^^ 

St. Leger's Expedition.^^ 

In conjunction with the advance of General Burgoyne by way ot 
Lake George, and as a part of the British plan of campaign of 1777, 
Major Barry St. Leger was directed to proceed to Lake Ontario and 

from that point strike Fort Schuyler (more commonly referred to 
by its old name of Fort Stanwix), march down the Mohawk valley 

and attack General Schuyler's army in the flank or rear. In ad" 
vance of St. Leger's army of seventeen hundred men Colonel Claus 

and Sir John Johnson with the "Johnson Greens" went up the St. 
I .awrence ; and Colonel Claus, who had become Superintendent of 
the Canadian Indians fixed upon Carleton Island as the place ot 
v( fidezvous for the savages who were to accompany the expedition. 
On July 8th St. Leger with his troops arrived and about the same 
time came Colonel John Butler from Oswego. 

St. Leger, having supplied the Indians with arms, ammunition and 
Vermillion, and having offered, it is alleged, a liberal bounty foi 

scalps,"*^ left Carleton Island and advanced to Henderson Bay where 
the troops disembarked and commenced the march down the coast. 
It had been the original intention to take the trail from Salmon Riv- 
er to Oneida Lake, but the British commander on reaching that rive! 
unwisely issued a quart of rum to each savage, "which," as Claus 
writes, "made them all beastly drunk, and in which case it is not in 
the power of man to quiet them." As a result the plan of march 
was changed, and the expedition continued along the coast to Oswe- 
go, where Brant had collected a large war-party to co-operate with 
St. Leger. 

Fortunately for the cause of American indenendence the attempt- 
ed flank movement ended in failure. The battle of Oriskanv 



JKFFERSOX COLM'y rEMirAM.I L. 63 

turned the tide against the British arms and was the beginning of 
the disaster which culminated in the surrender of Burgoyne and his 
army at Saratoga. 

On the return of St. Leger's expediton from Oswego a severe 
storm was encountered near the entrance to the St. Lawrence ; sever- 
al transports were wrecked on the rocky shore of Point Peninsula, 
^ri(\ others barely escaped by taking refuge in Chaumont Bay. 

The prisoners, a number of whom had been taken, were brought 
to Lake Ontario with the retreating army ; and through the indiffer- 
ence or wanton cruelty of the British commander several were per- 
mitted to remain in the hands of the savages. In view of the losses 
sustained by the Indians at Oriskany and about Fort Schuyler this 
action of St. Leger was peculiarly atrocious. It is said, that a 
band of Ottawas crossing from Henderson to Quinte stopped at 
Galloup Island, and there tortured to death and devoured one of 
these wretched captives ,his bones being discovered not long after by 
an American scouting party from Fort Schuyler. 

Fort Haldiinand?^ 

Soon after the defeat and capture of Burgoyne Sir Guy Carleton 
was at his own request retired as Governor of Canada, though re- 
maining in the military service. He was succeeded by Major Gen- 
eral Haldimand. The new governor was famliar with the strategic 
points in the defense of the upper St. Lawrence, and at once dettr- 
mined to make the stockaded camp on Carleton Island a permanent 
post to control the southern channel of the river. For this purpose 
he sent engineers to the island in 1778, and caused the construction 
of a fort, which was known as Fort Haldimand. 

At Carleton Island the British built a number of vessels for the 
navigation of Lake Ontario, and the post became a principal rendez- 
vous for the scalping parties which harassed the New York frontier. 
The Indians flocked there from the south and west ; and on the 
mainland opposite the island appears to iiave been their "Great 
Camp.""^ There the savage kindled their council-fire and held their 
wild orgies, exchanged the bloody trophies of massacre for English 
gold, and boasted of their crimes. 

It was at Carleton Island before and after the construction of 
Fort Haldimand that Brant aroused th/* blood-thirst of the Mo- 
hawks and sent them forth, w^th the Tories of Colonel John Butler 
an-i his son, Walter the most infamous villain of the border, to ply 
the torch and hatchet in the valleys of central New York. It was 
there that Sir Guy Johnson delivered to the Indian chiefs presents 



64 .IICFlKJiSOy C'OLWTV CEMEyMAL. 

from the English king, and urged them on in their work, of slaugh- 
ter and pillage by the promise of future reward. 

The grey ruins of Fort Haldimand still stand as a gaunt monu- 
ment to the black deeds which were hatched within its walls when 
the Johnsons and the Butlers sat there in council with Brant and 
his chieftains — a crumbling memorial of i nation's crime in subject- 
ing a kindred people to the horrors of an Indian war, in which neith- 
er age nor sex protected from nameless cruelties. 

After the peace of 1783 the uncertainty of the northern boundaries 
left the fort in the possession of Great Pritain. In 1796 surveyors 
of the Macomb Purchase found there a British corporal and three 
soldiers. '•'' Possession so continued, the Canadian authorities con- 
trolling both channels of the St. Lawren-^", until the post was cap- 
tured by the Americans at the opening of the War of 1812."^ 

Conclusion. 

The allotted period of local history closes here. Looking back 
over the years prior to the first settlement in the wilderness, where 
pre now the farms and villages and cotta:^e-lined bays and islands of 
Jefferson County, one cannot but be impressed with its interesting 
past. Its waters and shores have witnessed events which have con- 
trolled the destinies of this continent. Its soil has been trod bv men 
lamous in the annals of American history, 

In the long roll of distinguished ramps are those of Champlain 
Frontenac and La Salle; La Barre, Denonville a'^d Mantet; Vaud- 
reuil and Montcalm; the Jesuits, Le Moyne, I ambervilie and Char- 
levoix; the great Iroquois chieftains. Kryn a'"'d 1 ha>endanegea ; the 
British generals Bradstreet and Amherst, Ga<2;e and Haldimand ; the 
soldiers of fortune, Horatio Gates and Charles Lee; the American 
patriots, Putnam and Schuyler and Clinton; Sir William Johnson, 
Sir Guy and Sir John; those scourges of th* border, the Butlers and 
Claus; besides those of many others who "'ere conspicuous in the 
stirring scenes enacted during the 17th and 18th centuries along tbf 
great river of Canada and the lake from which it flows. 

From the fir-t tradition of tlie Ironuois ihis reeion has been the 
disputed \?ri\ of nations: the Canaan of tho West. Its wooded shores 
and rocl:y islct'^ have echoed the >'ells of 'Javrxje w^irrior'^ ; it> dark 
forests have rung with the tramp of marching soldiery; across its wa- 
ters have sounded the boom of cannon a"d the cries of combat. 
Not until the energies of the new-born rep'iblic had transformed tne 
wilderness into broad pastures and waving grain-fields did peaci 
come to this la^d of conflict, and even then it was to once a-iain hear 
the noise of battle. 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. ' 65 

Ninety years have passed since the last hostile shot sounded in this 
region. May it be the will of heaven that never again shall this 
border-land of ours become the theater of war, but that the future 
may hold in store for Jefferson County peace and prosperity to the 
end. 

APPENDIX i -.. ^ 

EARLY MAPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 

It is natural to expect that the maps of new'y-discovercd regioru 
should at the first be very imperfect, but that with increasing know- 
ledge and more careful observations the mistakes should disappear. 
This did indeed happen in regard to the territory, now within tne 
boundaries of Jefferson County, but the corrections were made much 
later and took much longer to secure general acceptance than might 
be supposed. Even during the last quarter of the 1 8th century 
the upper St. Lawrence and the eastern portion of Lake Ontario were 
incorrectly delineated on the maps. 

The trouble in this particular case seems to have been that the 
map-makers derived their data from the writings or sketch-maps of 
historical chroniclers and unscientific travellers who paid little atten- 
tion to actual locations and were indifferent to or negligent of dis- 
tance and direction. 

Furthermore, cartographers are usually, perhaps wisely so, ex- 
tremely cautious in the adoption of Information contradictory of ex- 
isting maps. They assume that their predecessors had proper and 
sufficient data, and unless conclusively proven to be false they are 
unwilling to assume the responsibility of changing them as charted. 
From this attitude of map-makers toward maps already drawn, and 
from the further fact that maps are unaccompanied by the data con- 
sulted in their preparation, mistakes once made are copied and re- 
copied, each copy forming cumulative proof on the supposition that 
the copyists had confirmed the truth by Independent investigation. 
As a result cartography, particularly that of a hundred years ago, is 
peculiarly liable to perpetuate errors arising from incomplete know- 
ledge, misinformation and conjecture. 

Trend of Ontario's Shore. 

This persistency of geographical error Is demonstrated by an ex- 
amination of the maps of this region published during the 17th and 



6Yi ' JEFFERSOy COL i\TY CESTE.\N1AL. 

i8th centuries, which often make uncertain the location of places 
named by contemporaneous writers and in the oflficial documents. 

The most noticeable fault in the earlier maps is the trend of th-L. 
eastern shore of Lake Ontario, which is extended northeast and south- 
west, instead of north and south as it should be. The result is that 
there is no defined outlet to the lake but a giadual narrowing like a 
wedge, the southern and eastern shores being merged into one. This 
error which affects the points of the compass as given in documents 
is very marked in the maps of Champlain (1632), Galinee( (i66q), 
and Joliet (1674). It is less marked in a map made about 1683, 
preserved in the Archives of the Marine at Paris, and has entirely 
disappeared in the map of the Jesuit, Pierre RafFeix (1688), yet to 
sho\v how persistent such an error may become and how later observ- 
ers may through carelessness confirm it, it may be noted that Char- 
levoix, the Jesuit historian in 1721 stated that looking westward 
from the head of Galloup Island he could see the mouth of the Os- 
weeo River, while in fact from that island Oswego lies almost due 
^outh. 

Islands Near the Outlet of Ontario 

The next prominent fault is the location of the islands in Ontario 
near its outlet. ( It is not strange that the islands in the St. Lawrence 
should, before an accurate survey had been made, be shown conven- 
tionally.) In the earlier maps the lake islands are scattered about 
with little regard to their number, extent and location. In the Cham- 
plain map ( 1632), however, two unnamed islands are shown in shape 
and situation corresponding to Galloup and Stony Islands with an 
{.ccuracy which could only have been acquired from actual observa- 
tion. 

On the Raffeix map (1688) for the first time appear "lies des 
"Gallots" in nearly their proper position, althoueh the large estuary 
ea'^t of the islands, formed by Chaumo"t, Black River and Hender- 
son Bays is contracted into the mouth of a narrow river. 

Some fifty years after the Raffeix Map there was issued a French 
map( 1744), which is in the Paris Marine Archives. This shows 
"I. aux Galots" quite accurately placed, but the "I. aux Chevreuils" 
(Grenadier Island) and the "I. aux Reynards" appear between the 
Ducks and Galloup Island, and the former between Grenadier Island 
and Fort Frontenac. 

A few years later (i7s8) the London Ma<razine published a map 
of Fort Frontenac "with adjacent countries" to illustrate the mili- 
tary operations in that region. LIpon it "Deer Island" (He aux 
Chevreuils) and "Foxes Island" (lie aux Reynards) are located due 



JEl'^FERSOX COC^TY VENThJN MAL. 61 

west of the southern point of the "Bay of Niaoure" (the estuary 
formed by Chaumont, Black River and Henderson Bays), which 
would be Six-Town Point. To the southeast of these islands and 
very close to the mouth of Stony Creek are three islands named on 
the map "I. aux Galots." Stony Point, called "Traverse Point", 
appears also at the mouth of this creek. The confusion of locations 
and the errors are so great as to forbid explanation, but they demon- 
strate the ignorance of the English concerning the geography of the 
re;7ion. 

Another English map, which may be considered authoritative, was 
one of the Province of New York made by the cartographer Sauth- 
ier (1777) under the direction of the last provincial governor, and 
published in London in 1779. On it the "Couis" (Ducks), "Chev- 
rcuils, "Renards" and "Galots" are laid down with approximate 
accuracy as to location, although the last islands are composed of a 
group of seven and are very extraordinary in shape. Six-Town 
Poi>it and also Stony Point arc shown, the latter being marked "Pt. 
de la Traverse, now Portland Point." 

The peculiar contours of some of the islands may not be so er- 
roneous as they appear in comparing them with the modern maps. 
The gravelly formation of many of the islands and the shores makes 
them susceptible to rapid change. As an instance of this fact, resi- 
dent« of the town of Henderson, who have been alive in the lasi 
forty years, remembered Campbell's Point Shoal in Henderson Bay 
as an island of several acres, although now submerged below the 
surface of the lake. Undoubtedly other shoals were islands a cen- 
tury ago, and during that time the shore lines have materially 
changed. 

Meaning of the Name "Galloup." 

There has been at different times discussion of t^e meaning of the 
name which is now spelled "Galloup" or "Galloo", though no sat- 
isfactory conclusion seems to have been reached, and It is not now 
proposed to solve the problem but only to submit the facts which 
have bearing upon the subject. In the first place it is to be noted 

that this name is the only one in this section which has retained its 
French sound, if not its French spelling. It seems a significant fact 
that the English translated the names of the other islands given 

them by the French, but this has remained for two centuries practi- 
cally the same. There rray be any one of three reasons why this was 
so : ( I ) the name may have had the same sound in English and 

French and had the same meaning; (2) the word may have had no 
counterpart in English ; and (3) the English may never have known 



68 JEFFKR.^OS COLWTV VEXTENMAL. 

the meaning and so had to adopt it without change or else rename the 
island. Any one of these reasons may be the true one but the first 
would seem the most probable if supported by other evidence. 

In the Raf^eix map (1688) the name is spelled "Gallots" and in 
ail the others referred to, in which the island or islands are named, 
it is spelled "Galots." (The preposition compounded with the ar- 
ticle is "des" or "aux" showing the word is in the plural number). 
Now neither of these words belong to the French language as found 
in the French dictionaries. They must, therefore, be a corruption of 
an Indian word, which from their sound seems ver>' improbable, or 
else a misspelled French word. If the latter is the correct explana- 
ation, there seem to be three words, any one of which might offer it- 
self as a source of the name. These are ^i) gaVts ( pebble'^ V (2) 
the adjective galeux (scrufy), and (3) galiotes, also spelled galliotes 
(small galleys used in the Mediterrean Sea and havirg one mast and 
seat«: for sixteen or twenty oarsmen). While the first word suggest- 
ed has some strong points in its favor, namely, the pebbly character 
of the shores of the island and the fact that the word is masculine, 
the persistency of the ending "ots" is strongly against it. The second 
word being an adjective and not a noun, and being very different in 
spelling seems the least probable of the three. The third word, on 
the other hand, has the strongest claim for consideration in spite of 
its feminine gender, which ienorance, carlessness, or an obsolete mas- 
culine form may explain away. 

In the first place in writing the word "galiotes" mistake or lack of 
knowledge might have dropped the letter "i' or changed it to the 
letter "1". The "e" may have been dropped through error as to 
the gender or may not have existed if there was an early masculine 
form. In the second place the French used for navigation on the 
lake flat-bottomed barges or scows fitted with a single mast and banks 
of oars, similiar to the small Mediterranean galleys, and the 'lie aux 
Gallots" was one of the principal places of refuge and refreshment 
for these vessels in crossing from Fort Frontenac to the southern 
shore. And in the third place the English name for craft of this sort 
is galiots or galliots, practically the same word appearing on the 
French mans, which would a< count for the continuance of the name 
on the English maps. 

"Den Island" of the Encrlish Maps. 

1'he name of another island, which is often mentioned in the do- 
cuments relating to this region, is the He aux Chevreuils (Island of 
the Roebucks), now called Grenadier Island. The name, which 
mav be translated, as it is in the London Magazine Man (i7s8), 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. (i9 

"Deer Island", or in order to preserve the gender "Buck Island", has 
been often applied to Carleton Island. From this fact the fort on 
the latter island has been by some supposed to be of French origin, 
through confusing it with a temporary scouting camp which the 
French for a time maintained on the "He aux Chevreuils." On the 
Sauthier official Map ( 1779) Carleton Island is put down as the "He 
a la Biche" (the Island of the Roe), which also may be translated 
"Deer Island" as it was by the English officers stationed there in 
1 777-1 7 78, though not "Bucks Island" or "Buck Island" as was sub- 
sequently done in complete diregard of the original gender. It is ap- 
(parent that the natural consequences of such loose translations would 
result in confusion and contradictions as to the location of the orig- 
inal Deer Island or Buck Island. , 

Omission of Black River from the Maps. 

'J'urning again to the cartographical errors a mistake, which at 
once catches the eye, is the general omission of Black River from the 
maps, even the Sauthier Map (1779) has no suggestion of it. Only 
in the Champlain Map (1632), in which the distances are so uncer- 
tain as to make very difficult the identificatioan of streams, and in the 
Raffeix Map_ (1688), in which no bay is shown at the mouth, the 
river entering abruptly into the lake, is the existence of this promi- 
nent natural feature of this reegion recognized. 

This omission is explainable from the fact that the inland region 
was not on the route usually followed by white men through this ter- 
ritory. The configuration of the shoreline between Mexico Bay and 
the St. Lawrence, and the location of the islands along the coast were 
of far greater practical importance to the travellers and officials of 
the period \^•hen the maps were prepared than the marking of a river 
which was for thirty miles from its mouth unnavigable for canoes. 

Nioure Bay 

The arm of the lake, embracing Chaumont, Black River and Hen- 
derson Bays, was known as Nioure, Niouare, Niaouenre and NiveN 
nois Bay, and for a considerable time after t^e settlement of this 
cor.nty as Hungr>' or Hungary Bay. This body of water does not 
^pear on the maps until the i8th century, and its shape like its 
name changes with each cartographer. At the first it is a broad es- 
tuary extending directly inland with a few islands scattered along its 
southern shore, but in the Sauthier Map (i779) it has assumed some- 
thing like its proper shape, so far as Henderson Bay is concerned, but 
Chaumont Bay is much too small, while Black River Bay is not shown 
at all. 



70 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 



In this map Six-Town Point is much too large and too prominent, 
being in fact of much greater area than Point Peninsula. Stony 
Creek, called "R. de I'Assomption", "Assumption Riv." anJ "^. a 
Mr. de Comte", is shown with much plainness, its upper course flow- 
ing near the head of Nioure Bay, between which and the river Sauth- 
icr marks the portage which was commonly travelled. 

The Region Inland 

On the Sauthier IVIap (1779), to the eastward of Niaouenre Bay 
lies a large unnamed lake near the present site of Watertown, and 
still further to the east are immense tracts of marsh-land dotted over 
with ponds. Across this latter region are printed the words "full of 
Beavers and Otters." While it is possible that a century and a half 
ago the swamp to the west of Watertown was a body of water of con- 
siderable extent, it seems to be more probable that the map-maker 
was depicting Perch Lake, and that the marshes and ponds were 
those of the Indian River, the favorite hunting grounds of the Iro- 
quois. 

A'lap Na/nes of Lake Ontario and the St. Laiurence River. 

The names borne by Lake Ontario and the St. La^wrence River 
are shown in the following table: 
Dare Map of Lake Ontario 

1624 Sir William Alexander. 



St. Lawrence River 
The Great River 
of Canada. 



1632 Champlain Lac St. Louis 

J 642 In French Archives Lac Ontario 

1647 Robert Dudley , 

ins6 Sanson 



R. Di Canada 
La Grande Riviere. 



1658 Duvals Atlas 
1669 Galinee 
1674 Joliet 
1681 (?) Joliet 



D. de Canada 



Ontario ou Lac 
de St. Louis. 
Lac St. Louis 
Ontario 
Lac Frontenac 
L. Ontario 
1683 (?) In French Archives. Lac Ontario 

ou Frontenac 
1683 Hennipin. L. Frontenac. 

1688 Raffeix Lac Ontario ou de St. Louis 

1697 He-^'nipin. L. Ontario ou Frontenac. 

1744 In French Archives Ontario Flauve St. Laurent 

1758 London Magazine Lake Ontario Iroquois or Catarakui 

River. 
1779 Sauthier Oneario Lake River Cadarakuoi 



Fl : de St. Lawrence 



JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 71 

The name "River of Canada" and also "River of the Iroquois" 
appear frequently in the English documents as a name for the St. Law- 
ience; and Cadwallader Golden in comparing the nomenclatures of 
the English and French gives for the French "Ontario lac" and for 
the English "Cadarackui Lake". 
It is apparent from the foregoing table, including fourteen maps in 

which Lake Ontario is named, that the name "Ontario" has persist- 
ed from the first in spite of the attempts of the French to change it to 

St. Louis and later to "Frontenac". 

On the other hand the name of "St Lawrence" for the river does 
not appear to have come into use until the latter part of the 17th 

century. Prior to that time the "River of Canada" and the "Great 

River of Canada" seem to have been the names employed. The 
English cartographers in the i8th century named the river "Cadara- 

koui" connecting it with the native name for Fort Frontenac and al- 
so termed it "The River of the Iroquois". The name "St. Law- 
rence" was from the first applied to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 

later was extended to embrace the great river flowing into it. 



REFERENCES 



1. History of Jeff?rson County, F B. Hough, p. 9; Transactions of Jefferson County 
Historical Society (1895), p. 53; Ibid. (1886-1887), p. 58 and p. 105. 

2. Journal, III Documentary History of New York, p. 1107, et seq. For a critical 
examination of Mr. Taylor's statements see Address of W. H. Beauchamp, Transactioni 
of Jeff. Co. Hist. Soe. (1886-1887), p. 105. 

3. The Problem of the Ohio Mounds, C. Thomas, Bureau of Ethnology, 1889 ; The 
Aboriginal Races of North America, S. G. Drake, B'k 4 chaps 13-16 ; Information res- 
pecting the Indian Tribes, H. R. Schoolcraft, pt. 5, p. 133. 

4 The meaning of the name "Iroquois" or "Hiroquois" has been the subject of much 
discussion,, and several solutions have been suggested. The most probable seems to bt 
that it comes from the Iroquois-Huron word "garokwa" a pipe or piece of tobacco, and 
in the verbal form, to smoke. Iroquois might be translated "they who smoke." 
(Iroquois Book of Rites, H. Hale, App., Note A.) It should be stated, however, that 
this derivation does not meet the views of W. H. Beauchamp, although he offers no 
better. 

5. In 1715 the Tuscaroras, a kindred tribe resident in North Carolina, immigrated to the 
southern part of the Province of New York, and were admitted to the Confederacy, which 
was known afterward to the English as "The League of the Six Nations," Hodenosau- 
nee was the Seneca name ; Rotinonsionni, the Mohawk and Kannoseone the Onondaga. 

6. Remonstrance of the People of New Netherland, 1649, I New York Colonial Docu- 
ments, p. 281. 

7. Historical Essays, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 94; Works of Francis Parkman covering 
the period from 1630 to 1700; League of the Iroquois, Lnvis H. Morgan, Vol. I p. 11; 
History of the New York Iroquois, W. H. Beauchamp, N. Y. State Museum Bulletin 78, 

"chaps. 7-12. 

The Iroquois were first termed "the Romans of the West" by the French traveller and 
author of the 18th century, the Comte de Volney. 



72 JEFFERSOX COUSTY CEXTENXIAL. 

8. Governor Dongan, 1687, III N. Y. Col. Docs., p. 393 ; The Dutch and the Iroquoib. 
Charles H. Hall (A paper read before the Long Island Historical Society and publishea 
in pamphlet form). 

9. History of Jefferson County., Hough ; p. 200. 

10. The trail struck Salmon River about 12 miles from its mouth, where the Oneida^ 
had a fishing village. IV N. Y. Col. Docs., p. 655 ; X Ibid ; p. 675. 

11. Historical Reminiscences, William Fayel, Transactions of Jeff. Co. Hist. Soc. 
(1886-1887), p. 92. 

The trail between the Black River and the Indian Rtver is marked on a map of N'e% 
York State appearing in Munsell's Historical Series, Vol. I on Indian Affairs. 

12. Northern New York and the Adirondack wilderness, N. B. Sylvester, p. lOfl. 

13. Leagrue of the Iroquois, Morgan, B'k I chap. 1 ; History of the Five Indian Na- 
tions, Cadwallader Colden, Preface to the First Part ; The People of the Long House, 
E. M. Chadwick (Toronto, 1897). 

14. Cartier in 1535 visited the site of Montreal and found there an Indian village 
called Hochelaga. From the vocabulary of the natives, which the explorer pre- 
served, it is certain that they were of the Iroquois-Huron stock. Seventy five years later 
when the French again visited the region Hochelaga was occupied by an Algonkin tribe 
See also History of the Iroquois, Beauchamp, p. 149. 

15. The Adirondacks were of Algonkin stock. 

16. It is a significant fact in relation to the course of migration that in both the 
myth and legend the Iroquois recogrnize that their ancestors came from the upper St. 
Lawrence and eastern end of Ontario to their lands in Central New York. 

17. Pioneers of France in the New World, Francis Parkman, p. 370 et seq. ; 
Champlain, the Founder of New France, E. A. Dix. p, 166 et. seq. ; Champlain's Voyages, 
III Documentary History of New York, p. 12. 

18. The original spelling of the name was "Kente," which indicates the proper pro- 
nunciation. 

19. Northern Niw York and the .Adirondack Wilderness, Sylvester, p. 35. 

20. I Doc. Hist, of N. Y., pp. 62-63. 

21. Canada, J. G. Bourinot, p. 147. 

22. Ill History of New France, Rev. P. F. X. de Charlevoix, (Harper's ed., 1900) pp. 
57-64. 

23. I.X N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 64-65. 

24. Ibid, p. 82. 

25. Ibid., pp. 95-113. 

26. Ibid., p. 127. 

27. Ibid., pp. 122-125. 

28. Ibid, pp. 168, 173. 

29. La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, Francis Parkman, p. 122. 

30. I Doc. Hist, of N. Y., pp. 95-143; IX N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 241-245 ; New Voy. 
ages to North .America, La Hontan, (English ed. of 1703) Letters VII. 

31 IX N. Y. Col. Docs., p. 175. 

32. Ibid., pp. 202, 206. 

33. La Famine. The location of this place has been the subject of much discussion ; 
and while recent investigators have almost without exception identified the rendezvous of 
La Barre's army with the mouth of Salmon River in Oswego County, there are some 
excellent reasons for doubting the correctness of thus locating it. 

It is not an unusual occurrence for geographical names through the ignorance or de- 
sign of map-makers, to be transferred from one locality to another. Thus on some maps 
Black River is named "Riviere de Monsieur le Comte," while on others the name is ap- 



JEFFERSOX COrXTY CEXTESMAL. 73 

plied to Stony Creek in Henderson. Black River as well as Salmon River has borne 
the name "Famine River," and on maps published about 1800, and even later, Henderson 
Bay appears as "Hungry Bay." These are cited only for the purpose of showing the 
common practice of transferring place-names, and not as a basis for a claim that they wert 
properly used. Another use of the name of a particular locality was to extend it so as 
to embrace surrounding regions. An instance of this may be found in the case of Cadara- 
qui, originally the name of a river flowing into Ontario, then of a village on its banks, 
later of a considerable territory and also of the St. Lawrence River. 

There can be no doubt that Salmon River was the original "Riviere de la Famine." 
Charlevoix, who visited the region in 1721 and who wrote his history of New Franc* 
some years later, states that the name was given because of La Barre's unfortunate 
experience ; and ho locates the place on a bay "four or five leagues from the mouth of 
the River toward Montreal" (III History of Xew France, Harpers ed., 1900, p.253). 
This may have been true of the place of conference between La Barre and the Onondagas, 
but was not true of the original La Famine, for on March 13, 1682, two years earliei 
than La Barre's expedition, Frontenac opposed meeting the Onondagas "near La Famine' 
(IX N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 172 253). The proposal for that meeting was made by Jeat» 
de Lamberville, the Jesuit resident in the Onondaga villages, and the place proposed 
was not at La Famine but "near La Famine." This seems worthy of note, since the 
same priest two .rears later arranged the conference with La Barre. In view of tht 
succeeding events it was natural to suppose that the name originated in the suffering* 
of La Barre's army, as was believed Charlevoix and others who have followed him as am 
authority. 

In view of the facts stated, the place of meeting not being at La Famine proper but 
nearer the St. Lawrence than Salmon River, (he most probable bay seems to be that at 
the mouth of Sandy Creek in Ellisburgh. It was at this place in 1802 that Rev. John 
Taylor speaks of the remains of a batteau being uncovered in a marsh and of iron in- 
struments of European manufacture being found. Though this maj have been a coin- 
cidence, it is a fact that La Barre was forced to abandon some of his batteaux at thi 
place of conference. 

If this is the correct solution of the problem it becomes unnecessary to make La 
Famine of La Barre and of Charlevoix coincide with the older name as applied by Lam-- 
berville and others to Salmon River. 

See also in this connection Appendix, Early Maps and Geographical Names. 

34. The Dutch forest-runners were called "bosslopers" ; the English, "biishrangers." 

S5. IX N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 277, 279. 

36. Ill Doc. Hist, of N Y.. p. 1140. 

37. IX N. Y. Col. Docs., p. 261. 

38. Ibid., p. 269. 

39. Ibid., pp. 359-369. 

40. Ibid., p. 331. 

41. Ibid., pp. 969. 999. 

42. Ihid, p. 352. 

43 IV History of New France, Charlevoix, p. 123. 

44. Ibid., pp. 12-13; History of the Five Indian Nations, pt. 1, chap. VI. 

45. Colden calls the chief "Adario." 

46. Some authorities state that the ambuscade took place at the first rapids of the 
St. Lawrence. Charlevoix says that it was at Hungry Bay. It undoubtedly occurred be- 
fore the envoys reached Fort Frontenac, for from that point so important a deputatioB 
would have been accompanied by one or more Frenchmen. 

41. IX N. Y. Col. Docs:, p. 436. 

48. Ibid. pp. 649-656. 

49. Ibid., p. 602 ; IV Histor>- of New France. Charlevoix, p. 265. 



74 JEFFERSON COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

50. IV History of New France, Charlevoix, pp. 121-122. 
61 I Doc. Hist, of N. Y., pp. 443-,'J06. 

52. IX N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 973, 975. 

53. X N. Y. Col. Docs., pp. 308, 403. 

54 Ibid., p. 403 ; History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, F. B. Hough, p. 63. 

55. X N. Y. Col. Docs. pp. 441, 443. 

66. Ibid., pp. 398, 415. 

57. Ibid., p. 426. 

58 I Doc. Hist, of N. Y., p. 481. 

59. X. N. Y. Col. Docs., jip. HO-46'i. 

60. The three regiments were those of La Sarre, Guyenne, and Beam, the last be- 
ing the famous "Irish Regiment," composed of Roman Catholic refugees, who had gone 
into voluntary exile rather than submit to the oppressive acts of the English Parliment. As 
to the conditions, see History of England, Macaulay chap. 17 and People's History of Ire- 
land, John F. Finnetry, chaps. IX and X. 

61. X. N. Y. Col. Docs., p. 672. 

62. Ibid., pp. 823-834. 

63. Ibid, p. 1031. 

64. History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Coimties, Hough, pp. 90, 99. 

65. Sir Guy Johnson' credits Samuel Kirtland, a missionary among the Oneidas with 
having won them to the American cause. VIII N. Y. Col. Docs,, p. 687. 

66. Ibid., p. 636. 

67. Governor Tryon to Lord George Germaine, Ibid., p. 756. 

68. Ibid, p. 779. 

69. Ibid., p. 719 ; History of the Iroquois, Beauchanip, p. 356. 

70. History of the Iroquois, Bcauchamp, p. 355, quoting Mary Jemison. 

71. See the interesting pamphlet "The Old Fort and Its Builders," by Major J. H. 
Durham (Cape Vincent, N. Y., 1889). 

72. It is so locat( d <m the Siiuthier Map if 1779, though other authorities place it 
o» French Creek in the town of Claj-ton. 

73. History of Jefferson County, Hough, p. 22. 

74. Ibid., p. 462. 



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